Go Time: Part 7

Vaughn shrugged. “Maybe take a picture on it? I don’t know. It’s in the Guinness Book of World Records. She should do something funny with it. Maybe pretend she’s going to throw it, or stand in front of it with her armor saying ‘All your base are belong to us?'”

“Better yet,” Jaclyn said, “how about you let Izzy know that everything works and that she can bug out of there before someone starts firing missiles at her.”

At approximately that moment Izzy said, “Control, do you have any word on the bots?”

Kayla said, “I don’t have anything yet.”

I typed in a text message to all of them–Izzy, Kayla and the jet, “Bots all in. Go.”

“Thanks, Rocket.” She shot upward, hundreds of feet in an instant. “I’m so glad to be going.”

Marcus voice came over the speakers. “Control, Blue’s moving and we’re following. Blue, tell us if we’re being tailed, okay?”

Izzy’s view blurred as she turned her head to look down over her shoulder. “I can’t even see you, but I’ll do what I can.”

Jaclyn leaned in toward the monitor. Both sides of the screen showed the night sky. “How’s she going to manage that when they’re traveling faster than the speed of sound? Rocket tech?”

I nodded. “I put in the same stuff I use in the Rocket suit–radar, and GPS. She’ll at least have what I do, and who knows? She might get more out of her hearing than I’d expect.”

Haley stepped up and stood next to Jaclyn. “I was talking with Camille and Courtney. Is it done?”

“They’re flying back. That’ll be another two hours.”

“It’s five o’clock,” Haley said. “We’re going to have eat supper in shifts if we want to have someone here watching.”

I thought about that. “I’m not sure if I should go. If someone does notice we’re here, it’s my lab, so I should be here.”

From further behind us, Amy said, “Me too. I’m keeping up the wards that stop people from noticing this little party.”

“Party?” Vaughn shook his head. “A party is a lot more fun than this.”

Amy pushed her way through to stand next to Haley. “More fun than watching your friends helplessly while they bug the houses of known psychos on the other side of the world? I don’t know, you’re going to have to prove that one.”

Camille laughed. “I was at one of his parties. The one at your house a couple summers ago, just before you got sober?”

Vaughn nodded. “I remember that one. I forget who broke a lamp, but my parents got so pissed. I mean, it’s not like they don’t have the money to buy a new lamp. They could buy a lamp factory, right? Anyway that’s also the party where some guy almost drowned in the pool.”

“I remember that,” Haley said, shaking her head.

I looked at her.

She shrugged. “I was there with Sean.”

I caught Vaughn’s eye. “That’s really more fun than this?”

“Well,” Vaughn said, “it seemed that way at that time.” He nodded, resting his chin on his hand. “I wasn’t sober for any of it.” Looking up at Haley, he said, “Didn’t you pull that guy from the pool?”

Haley gave a half smile. “Someone had to. It seems like a long time ago now.”

“I missed that party,” Cassie said, crowding in with everyone else. “It was such a mess afterward. The guy’s parents were pissed. Vaughn’s mom was so angry she was practically shaking for a week.”

“Yeah,” Vaughn said, shaking his head. “The party was great. The aftermath sucked.”

Amy grinned, and caught his eye. “It could have been worse. One of my ancestors had a party, and one of the guests got so drunk he grabbed my ancestor’s arm–which wasn’t allowed without permission because he was king. So my ancestor had the guest beheaded. Except then the guest’s relatives got angry, and led half the provinces in rebellion. It was a big mess, and it took years to clean up.”

“Whoa,” Vaughn said. “How’d they do it?”

Amy put her hands in her pockets and frowned. “The normal way. Decapitated the leaders, and the provinces fell in line eventually.”

Vaughn laughed. “I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t have worked for me, but my parents might have considered it. Only if I were the victim though.”

“Believe me,” Amy said. “I know that feeling.”

From the back of the group Daniel talked over Vaughn’s reply, “Any of you who have special senses might want to use them. I’ve got a bad feeling that something’s about to happen.”

Not having special senses, I turned back to the screen, seeing nothing but the night sky as Izzy and the jet flew over Russia.

Looking at their positions on the map, it appeared that they were flying over rural areas. That was good. I’d have been worried if they were flying over Moscow or something.

Except then I did notice something. Twin fiery glows appeared on both sides of the screen. In the jet’s, they appeared in the distance, aiming toward Izzy. On Izzy’s side of the screen, there wasn’t anything at first, but then a figure appeared, its rocket pack outlined by the glow of its on-going burn.

“Crap,” I muttered.

Haley leaned in toward me. “What?”

I pointed.

Haley peered at the screen. “Who’s that?”

“Russia’s answer to the Rocket. I don’t know what the Russians call him, but it’s translated as Russian Victory. It used to be called Red Victory.”

A second glow appeared next to the first. This wasn’t going to get better.